Fragments of Solitude — A Review

Riccardo Sollini is the son of one of the young families who, in the late 1960s, joined the Capodarco Community, drawn by don Franco Monterubbianesi's vision of "a just, coherent, and egalitarian society." He entered not as someone in need of help, but simply as a person immersed in a world where the concepts of family, parents, and relationships with peers were radically questioned—or perhaps reached altogether different levels. In Sollini's account of his own experience and those of other brothers in community life, a painful reality emerges: the many difficulties that were initially underestimated, including the paradox of solitude and the burden of being different. Moving beyond either criticism or praise, the author traces a path toward awareness, recognizing the community nonetheless as a "gentle, stern, and compassionate teacher" capable of leaving behind an "inestimable legacy"—made of gestures learned only through living them.